Andrew Johnson
A overview of Houston's Muni.
What’s Next for MEMO & Houston Open?
Long before the Houston open was known as the SHO or Shell Houston Open, Memorial golf park hosted the city's namesake event for 14 seasons from 1947 -1963. It then bounced around a handful of private clubs in suburbs before making a long standing tenure at Golf Club of Houston (previously known as Redstone GC) in what is arguably…. not Houston at all but rather the town of Humble. Show your local knowledge and proven street cred by saying Humble correctly – the ‘H’ is silent.
Shell Oil Co declined to renew their role as title sponsor after 25 years in 2017 and two years with no title sponsor –local businessman and golf fanatic Jim Crane moved on the opportunity to usher change and shake up the status quo. With a five year commitment to host a PGA event – Crane & Astros Golf Foundation set their sites on a complete renovation of Memorial Park & Golf Course under the guidance of renowned architect Tom Doak and home to the annual Houston PGA event. Unfortunately during the transitions years, Houston Open lost its premier spring date on the calendar as a hot spot for tour players to get a final tune up before the year’s first major – The Masters. Since 2019 the event has been moved to the fall date. This year the open was a well organized and fun filled event for golf and Houston. There has been a roulette of title sponsors (2019 – Houston Golf Association, 2020 – Vivent, 2021 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise, 2022 – Cadence Bank) and now discussion of further reduction in value of fall tour spots to combat the LIV golf league – So what is next for our beloved MEMO and the Houston open?? I’ve been asked by a handful of people and short answer is, I don’t know! So stay tuned and I’ll be following up.
Full disclosure – I live three miles for MEMO and happen to be a HUGE fan of the renovation work done by Renaissance Golf Design and local designer Mike Nuzzo. It’s crazy affordable, walkable, municipal vibes galore and is just plain fun course no matter the skill level. And yes I get the local in town rate compared those outside the ‘circle’. Sorry not sorry.